Oracle cuts up to 30,000 jobs worldwide

Oracle has begun what analysts say could be the largest layoff in its history, cutting tens of thousands of jobs worldwide to help fund a massive buildout of artificial intelligence infrastructure, even as the tech giant reports an “exceptional” quarter and soaring cloud revenues.

Employees across the US, India, Canada, Mexico and other countries began receiving termination emails from “Oracle Leadership” at about 6am local time on Tuesday, 31 March, The Independent reported, citing employees and internal communications.

“After careful consideration of Oracle's current business needs, we have made the decision to eliminate your role as part of a broader organisational change. As a result, today is your last working day,” one termination email said, according to The Independent.

The message added: “Access to your computer, email, voicemail, and files will be deactivated soon, and you will be unable to log into your computer,” the paper reported.

Layoffs could affect 18 per cent of workforce

The Independent noted that the “broader organisational change” is widely seen as a reference to the company’s push to build more AI data centres. It also reported that affected staff were told: “After signing your termination paperwork, you will be eligible to receive a severance package subject to the terms and conditions of the severance plan.”

Oracle employed about 162,000 people as of May 2025, meaning cuts on the scale being discussed could affect around 18 per cent of its workforce. The Independent reported that “about 12,000 of the company’s employees in India have been laid off,” citing local news reports.

The Next Web, citing investment bank TD Cowen, reported that “Oracle is cutting up to 30,000 employees to pay for AI data centres” and the reductions are expected to “affect 18% of Oracle’s 162,000-person workforce and free up $8-10 billion to fund AI infrastructure.”

The site said “Oracle has not confirmed the total number” but that TD Cowen estimates the cuts will hit “between 20,000 and 30,000 employees.”

Employee posts on Reddit’s r/employeesOfOracle forum and on Blind began confirming cuts in real time, according to The Next Web, with reports of entire teams at units including Revenue and Health Sciences (RHS) and SaaS and Virtual Operations Services (SVOS) seeing reductions of at least 30 per cent. Canada, Mexico and Uruguay were affected before the US wave hit, it said.

Oracle gambling on AI

Behind the job cuts is an aggressive, and expensive, AI gamble. TD Cowen estimates Oracle “has committed to an aggressive AI infrastructure buildout that requires an estimated $156 billion in capital spending,” The Next Web reported.

To fund it, the company “raised $45-50 billion in debt and equity financing in 2026 alone for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure,” the outlet said, adding that multiple US banks have reportedly raised lending costs or stepped back from financing certain data centre projects.

On an earnings call earlier this month, Oracle executive Clay Magouyrk underscored the scale of AI‑related demand. “Demand for AI infrastructure, both GPU and CPU, continues to exceed supply. This is directly visible in our $553 billion remaining performance obligations,” he said.

Oracle has also been “reportedly piloting programs with AI agents doing routine database administration work, work that used to require teams of engineers,” according to reporting cited by The Independent and The Next Web.

‘Exceptional’: Third-quarter results

The restructuring comes despite a surge in Oracle’s recent financial results. In a press release, the company said Q3 fiscal 2026 was “an exceptional quarter with financial results that exceeded expectations.” It added: “This Q3 was the first quarter in over 15 years where organic total revenue and non-GAAP earnings per share both grew at 20% or more in USD. Cloud revenue was at the high end of our guidance, total revenue was at the high end of constant currency guidance and above USD guidance, and non-GAAP earnings per share were above our guidance in both USD and constant currency.”

“Total quarterly revenues were up 22% in USD, and up 18% in constant currency to $17.2 billion,” Oracle reported, with “Cloud revenues … up 44% in USD, and up 41% in constant currency to $8.9 billion.” Remaining Performance Obligations “ended the quarter at $553 billion, up 325% from last year and up $29 billion from last quarter,” the company said, noting that most of the increase related to “large scale AI contracts.”

Oracle said in its March release that for fiscal 2026 it expects revenue of $67 billion and capital expenditures of $50 billion and is raising total revenue guidance for fiscal 2027 to $90bn. It also said “the demand for cloud computing for AI training and inferencing continues to grow faster than supply” and that this would enable it “to comfortably meet and likely exceed our revenue growth rate forecast for FY27 and beyond.”